Prelude to greatness

Twas the night before BBQ tour and I feel that we are on the precipice of greatness.  As I anticipate the endless amount of greasy porkin that awaits me, I am overwhelmed with feelings of excitement and wonder.  Now I know how the great men and women of history must have felt before the defining moments of their lives.  How nervous and excited must Martin Luther King have felt before his "I have a dream speech," Franklin Deleno Roosevelt before declaring war on Germany and Japan,  Abraham Lincoln before the Gettysburg Address, the brothers Wright before they flew their first plane, or Macaulay Culkin just before the premiere of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York?  Can we add Timmy, Trey, Jonathan, and Jared before they departed for "The Barbeque Tour of the South."  I think we can... I think we can indeed.  When I lay my head to sleep tonight, I shall have visions of pulled pork dancing through my head.  

TM

Tonight is the eve of something special.  Tomorrow Trey, Timmy, Jared, and Jonathan enter into the annual of heroes, with the likes of Stonewall Jackson, Ghandi, Daniel Larusso, and Joan of Arc.  There are many people who do not think this gauntlet can be run.  Some would be skeptical that a human could stomach twelve straight meals of BBQ.  To be sure, there will be lots of grease, fat, fried pies, and many other tangibles we must consider.  Why would we risk so much?  Imagine if other great people would not have taken risk.  If the U.S. said that space travel was too risky, where would we be?  Tang-less for sure, no personal microwaves, or moonpies.  The word 'awesome' gets thrown around quite a bit these days and has become almost cliche`.  But this is exactly what we are entering into. 

JH

For me, embarking on this journey is up there with Beethoven completing his fifth symphony. When moving to Texas, something in my life drastically changed.  When I found myself dining at the local barbeque restaurants, I soon realized that they did not know what real barbeque was about.  They were cooking up beef instead of pork.  Tomorrow, we will set the record straight as we eat pork barbeque all over the "dirty south".   One of our colleagues, Jared has yet to experience the south, much less the delicious flavors of true barbeque. 

 TH

Hola mi amigos, mi nombre es Jared Slack, and I can't wait to "put the south in my mouth!"  Being less than 24 hours away from the commencement of what looks to become the greatest achievement of my life, I can't help but be torn.  As a Texas boy, born and raised, with a redneck father and mexican mother, I take offense to any person who might suggest that Tex-Mex cuisine ought to take a back seat to some other states edible offerings.   To think that another state's food might dim the light of my love for Texas seems utterly blasphemous.   Since coming to Truett I've become friends with those who were not privileged enough to be born within the tender bosom of Mother Texas.  For the last two years I've heard countless stories of the wonderment that is true southern BBQ, but I have yet to know it in it's fullness.  I'll be honest, I absolutely can't wait until the moment when the sauce slowly drips from the corners of my mouth as I experience "real" barbecue for the first time.  I fear this journey could be the beginning of something life altering.  What if my love for "Texas" becomes tainted by my silly sordid affair with the antebellum South?  I must cling to the hope that my meanderings will not diminish the Texas in my mind, but I can't allow my blind affections to stifle this communal quest for the world's best BBQ.

JS